Silver Lake: Neutra Houses

Silver Lake has a lot of things that make someone from the Bay Area feel at home: pretentious coffee shops, pretty views, secret pathways with cats on them, and hip people. The fancier area of East Silver Lake around the reservoir also has some of L.A.'s best modern and contemporary residential architecture including a collection of houses by Richard Neutra (1892-1970).

Neutra, who was born in Vienna, moved to the U.S. in the 1920s and worked with Frank Lloyd Wright for several years before becoming one of California's leading Modernist architects. Neutra worked from Silver Lake where his studio and office were located and he built about ten residential houses on Silver Lake Boulevard and on a small cul-de-sac that is now called Neutra Place. These simple and elegant houses were built in the 1950s and 1960s in Neutra's Japanese influenced "Pavilion Style." The houses have strong horizontal lines and large windows to take advantage of beautiful views over the reservoir:

A slightly earlier Neutra house on Silver Lake Boulevard built in 1948:

Views of the Silver Lake Reservoir:

The hills around the reservoir have lots of secret pathways and stairways with overgrown plants like Berkeley:


Some other interesting residences in Silver Lake include this 1957 Eric Lloyd Wright (grandson of Frank) house on Cove Avenue:

A boxy modern home near Sunset Junction built in 1999 by Lewis Schoeplein Architects:

An even boxier residence at the top of the hill on Earl Street with gorgeous views over the reservoir - built in 2004 by Barbara Bestor Architects:

Sunset Junction at the bottom of the hill in West Silver Lake:


Walk 28 in my favorite book "Walking L.A." by Erin Mahoney Harris covers the Loma Vista Place steps and Neutra Place in East Silver Lake by the reservoir.


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